I’ve mentioned in previous blogs of my use of an office chair at work to enable me to get around and to continue to work. I am only able to walk a few steps at a time using my walker before I need to sit. When I get to work, I park right next to the side door entrance and walk about 15 steps to the door and I either holler out “Hello” and the girls will bring me my chair, or it will be waiting for me there. There is about a 6 inch step up that I can no longer manage, so I turn around and just sit down in my chair in the doorway. My chair is about 12 years old and we have nursed it for several years. We’ve replaced the 5-armed base before, and put new wheels on several times. In the last couple of years the hydraulic system that allows you to raise and lower the seat has broken, so I am sitting a little lower down than before. Why don’t we just get a new chair? you say? Well, I need a heavy-duty chair capable of holding about 300 lbs. all day long and a little wider seat. When we bought it 12 years ago, it cost $487. I’ve looked up this exact chair on the internet recently and it now costs over $1000! Yikes! And so, we keep nursing the chair and praying it will last a little longer. Back to my story. The two girls were hurrying, ran into buckets and objects that had been set in my pathway, and instead of moving the objects, they decided to pick up and carry my chair! When they lifted the chair, the seat portion lifted right off of the base! Then, they had to move the objects after all, put the top of the chair back onto the base and get it to me at the door where I am waiting. In the move, they also lost 2 of the wheels. So they bring the chair to the back door and run back to retrieve one of the wheels. Now, I have moved around the shop on 4 of the 5 wheels before, when I had not noticed one had fallen off and then had to go hunt for it, so that was not a problem. My knees were at their limit, so I turned around and sat down in my chair. The chair wobbled, and tipped and dumped me onto the floor where I landed on my posterior! What an unexpected shock! I yelled out in surprise and a man across our parking lot, the parking lot of the church across the street to the alley next…heard me cry out and drove his truck over to help. Meanwhile I’m sitting on the floor of the doorway, with my feet still on the ground outside and the girls are trying to fix my chair. The seat and top of the chair was not on the pole correctly…it was moving like a wobble head doll! No wonder it tipped me out! So they are frantically trying to reset that, put on the wheel they had in their hand and get me off the floor while hoping I was not hurt. Now, you have to remember, I need two knee replacements, and my knees have bone spurs which prevent me from straightening out my legs, so when I stand it is in a bent-leg, almost squatted position. When the girls finish with my chair, my rescuer grabbed my hands to pull me up to a standing position which was no easy feat since I couldn’t help him at all. He had to pull my dead weight from the ground up until I could balance myself and grab my walker. If he hadn’t heard me and come to my rescue, I might have had to call 911 and have firefighters pick me up! That would have been interesting! All in all, it was an interesting and new way to start my work day. The good thing…landing on my butt was the best place. It has lot of padding! I was not sore the next day, only really physically tired and weak in the knees and legs as if it was the end of my work week instead of the beginning. As the day progressed, the more exhausted I felt so I left about an hour early. The next day I seemed to be back to normal except for extra pain in my knees which tends to come and go depending on how active I am at work. So, the adventure turned out alright in the end and gave me no lasting problems. I was lucky. Thank you Lord for watching out for me! And now…the boss is shopping around for a new chair for me.

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About estherlou

My husband and I married in 1970. I am the mother of 2 and grandmother to 5. I share my health stories and my experiences with Thrive. I am reading and writing blogs, watching tv, making jewelry and rosaries, selling in my Etsy store and playing solitaire. I am home bound and add in my physical therapy exercises to my daily routine. I will blog about my progress or anything that catches my attention at that moment. See you around and thanks for stopping by!